50 Rupees Specimen Travellers Cheque State Bank of India Calcutta

State Bank of India's travellers cheque programme expanded significantly in the late 1970s as domestic tourism infrastructure grew and foreign exchange controls under FERA 1973 made certified rupee instruments the practical alternative to carrying cash. The India Security Press at Nasik Road — which also handled passport and stamp production — printed these cheques, keeping the entire security document chain within government hands.

Specimen examples from this series were distributed to SBI branch staff and authorised encashment agents for training and fraud detection purposes. The 1979 date places this squarely in the period before electronic verification existed at the counter level, when physical security features alone had to carry the authentication burden.